Turmoil forces Twins, Major League Baseball to vacate Venezuela

Star TribuneFebruary 25, 2018

Turmoil forces Twins, Major League Baseball to vacate Venezuela

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Bill Smith was in charge of setting up a training academy for the Twins that opened in Bejuma, Venezuela, in 1995. There was a clubhouse and dormitory added in 2000. This helped put the Twins in better stead in competing for teenage baseball talent in Venezuela than then was the case in the Dominican Republic. Hugo Chavez had once tried to lead a military coup in Venezuela. Then, in 1998, he was elected as president, and brought a Communist autocracy to the country. Eventually, the economy collapsed and Venezuela became a more dangerous place. Kidnapping became an industry. Major league players had to worry about family members back home. Then-Washington catcher Wilson Ramos,